A group of prominent Southeast Asian and international figures has called on the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) to use its upcoming 47th summit to unequivocally reject the Myanmar regime’s planned election and to launch a complete strategic reset toward the crisis-hit country.
The group comprises former Malaysian foreign minister Saifuddin Abdullah; former Thai foreign minister Kasit Piromya; Philippine lawmaker Leila de Lima, a former senator and justice secretary; and three former UN experts on Myanmar—Yanghee Lee, Marzuki Darusman and Chris Sidoti—who are founding members of the Special Advisory Council for Myanmar (SAC-M).
In a joint statement issued on Tuesday, they urged ASEAN to “outright reject” the junta’s planned election—which is scheduled to be held in 102 of the country’s 330 townships in a phased process starting on Dec. 28—warning that it fails to meet even the minimum benchmarks for credibility.
The statement cites remarks made by Malaysian Foreign Minister Mohamad Hassan during his visit to Myanmar on Oct. 9, in which he stressed that any election must be conducted “in accordance with the principles of free, fair, transparent, and credible processes” and “should be held throughout the country with the participation of all political parties and stakeholders.”
On these grounds alone, the junta’s planned election fails the test of credibility, the group said.
They also condemned the junta’s “lie” on Oct. 10 that Hassan had pledged to send a Malaysian election observer team to monitor the vote, describing the claim as part of the junta’s continuing propaganda campaign to “fabricate legitimacy” at ASEAN’s expense.
The group also criticized ASEAN for “four years of handwringing, dissembling and futile attempts to revive” its failed peace plan for Myanmar, known as the Five-Point Consensus, adding that the bloc has been “fooled, outmaneuvered and humiliated by the junta at every turn.”
The bloc’s inaction has “abandoned thousands of [Myanmar] civilians to slaughter, surrendered the political initiative to powers outside its bloc, enabled transnational crime to flourish and greenlit future coups among member states,” the signatories said.
They added that the bloc’s refusal to act had emboldened the junta in escalating its targeted killing of civilians including children and left it feeling confident in its impunity. They pointed out that the regime recently conducted aerial bombardment of a candlelight vigil held by people gathering for the Buddhist festival of Thadingyut in Chaung-U Township in the resistance stronghold Sagaing Region, killing at least 24 people including children.
A month earlier, a regime warplane bombed a boarding school complex in a village in Arakan Army (AA)-controlled Kyauktaw Township, Rakhine State, killing 22 people, mostly students, and injuring at least 20 more.
The prominent figures urged ASEAN to declare full opposition to the junta’s planned election and refuse to recognize its outcome, saying that free and fair polls could only be made possible by a nationwide ceasefire, the release of all political prisoners, inclusion of all parties, and access for international monitors.
They also called on the bloc to expand its ban on junta leaders and ministers from attending top-level meetings to include all junta representatives, and to introduce escalating punitive measures until the regime complies with ASEAN’s principles.
Numerous Myanmar anti-regime groups, including ethnic armed organizations, as well as Western democracies, rights groups and international election watchdogs have denounced the upcoming poll as a sham.
